Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Economics

January 31, 2013

Departing in Peace: Economics and Liturgical Living

In the most recent issue of Theosis (1.6), Fr. Thomas Loya, a Byzantine Catholic priest, iconographer, and columnist, has an interesting contribution on the upcoming feast of the Presentation of Christ at the Temple (also known as Candlemas or the “Meeting of the Lord”). Continue Reading...
January 29, 2013

The Academy’s Rage Against Capitalism

Over at Ricochet, Peter Robinson broaches the oft asked question about intellectuals and their disdain and rage against capitalism. Robinson unearthed Robert Nozick’s, “Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?” Nozick declared, The schools, too, exhibited and thereby taught the principle of reward in accordance with (intellectual) merit. Continue Reading...
January 24, 2013

Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

Why do the wicked prosper? This plaintive query is a consistent cry from the psalmist and the prophets. As Jeremiah puts it, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” Continue Reading...
January 23, 2013

The economics of Downton Abbey

The wildly-popular BBC production, “Downton Abbey” has offices buzzing on Monday mornings. Like the “Upstairs, Downstairs” of old, “Downton” provides the viewer with two distinct lifestyles in one house: that of Lord and Lady of the manor and of the staff that runs the place. Continue Reading...
January 17, 2013

A Cookie for Me, But Not for Thee

There are some amazing economic and moral lessons, related to redistribution, zeo-sum fallacies, as well as virtue and desire, embedded in this Sesame Street video: Can you think of any other ways that both Ernie and Cookie Monster might have been able to be happy instead of sad? Continue Reading...
January 16, 2013

The Idle Ents

Last week I had the pleasure of participating in the First Kuyper Seminar, “Economics, Christianity & The Crisis: Towards a New Architectonic Critique,” held at the VU University Amsterdam. I gave a paper on “The Moral Challenges of Economic Equality and Diversity,” which focused on envy as a moral challenge particularly endemic to market economies: “Since envy arises out of inequality, envy and inequality go together. Continue Reading...
January 15, 2013

Access vs. Ownership in ‘Collaborative Consumption’

New rental markets are popping up all over the place, as detailed by a recent Wall Street Journal article. The trend is beginning to drive a larger movement labeled by some as “collaborative consumption,” wherein “sharing” is pushed as a way of “reinventing old market behaviors.” Continue Reading...